Crowe's box office beating

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Darth Vader, funnyman Adam Sandler and a gang of zoo animals
have given Russell Crowe a beating at the North American box
office.

Crowe's Oscar hopeful movie, Cinderella Man, opened in
American cinemas on the weekend with strong critical reviews and
plenty of publicity, but it failed to make the weekend's top three
grossing films.

Sandler's comedy The Longest Yard was second with $US26.1
million ($34.62 million).

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which made
history on the weekend by being the fastest film to make $US300
million ($397.88 million) at the North American box office, was
third with $US26 million ($34.48 million).

Cinderella Man was fourth with a disappointing
$US18.615 million ($24.69 million), a result about $US2 million
($2.65 million) below Universal Studios' expectations.

It's not all bad news for Crowe.

Hollywood box office experts predict the quality of
Cinderella Man will give it a long life in cinemas, while
the other more hyped popcorn movies will open big then disappear
quickly.

"It will play throughout the (US Summer) as one of those 'go to'
movies if you want quality," Paul Degarabedian of box office
tracker Exhibitor Relations told AAP.

"Just like Seabiscuit which was a summer film that opened
solidly, but just played and played."

Performing not so good was Heath Ledger's new skateboard film,
Lords of Dogtown, which came sixth with $US5.7 million
($7.56 million).

Australian cinemagoers will have to wait a few months to see
Cinderella Man and Lords of Dogtown, with Crowe's
boxing film debuting in September and Ledger's in August.

Cinderella Man, in which Crowe plays struggling 1930s
heavyweight James "Cinderella Man" Braddock, has been dubbed the
first Oscar contender of the year.

Universal Studio's decision to open Cinderella Man in the
US summer, a period usually reserved for heavily-promoted films
aimed at teenagers and families, is an interesting one.

Movies of such quality and Oscar potential are usually held
until November or December so they are fresh in the minds of
Academy voters.